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UNITED STATES PATENT OEEIcE.

. JosErH H. WALKER, E GRAND RAPIDS, MICHIGAN, AssIeNoR or ONE-HALF i To WILLIAMH. rowERs, or SAME rLAoE. l

`nuamt-(masker.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 276,312, dated April 24, 1883.

l Application tiled October 24, 18S-2. (No model.)

. To all 'whom it may concern NIO Be it known that I, JosEPH H. WALKER, of Gra-nd Rapids, in the county ot'` Kent and State of Michigan, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Burial Gaskets or Cases; and 1 do hereby declare that the following specification, taken in connection with the drawings furnished and forming a part of the same, is a clear, true, and complete description of my invention. My said improvements relate to the tops ot caskets or cases, and my obiect is to provide therefor a sliding face-lid which, when closed, will present a neat finish, corresponding with one or more immovable panels, as usually preferred, and also to so mount said sliding facelid that a glass lid,rwhether sliding or otherwise, may be employed, if desired, in connection therewith.

, ln Letters Patent No. 228,836, issued tomyselt' and William H. VFowers June l5, 1880, lwe were the rstto disclose a sliding face-lid and the combination ofa sliding face-lid and a sliding glass lid,and also such an arrangement of thefacelid andthe adjacent sliding ways that the glass lid'could be employed or not,` as might be desirable in each case. Asheretofore devised by us, however, it was impossible to obtain a uniform exterior finish upon the top of the case or casket, because said prior face-lid, when closed, presented its upper surface in the plane of the under surface ol' the main portion 4ot' the top, and the construction and arrangement ot' the lid and the raceway in which the lid moved weresuch as would not practically permit the introduction ot' a top vpanel for harmonizing in effect with the sunken closed face-lid. To provide for such a finish with a panel or panels, as in a casket, or for a flush finish when no panels are used, as in plain cotlins, it is necessary that the face-lid be tlexibly mounted in raceways, so as to be capable oi' a vertical movement bodily in assuming or4 departing'from its closed position 5 and so far as my knowledge extends I am the first to provide for such movements in a sliding face-lid, although I am well aware that sliding glass lids have been similarly arranged; but it is obvious that with such prior glass lids it is usual and desirable to employ a close or `5o face lid, and that the neat and uniform exterior nish now sought by me could not be obtained by any form of superimposed face-lid capable ot' being silently and readily applied and removed, aud Without the use of mechanical appliances, which constitute the principal advantages of sliding face-lids.t

After fully describing a burial-casket embodying myimprovements the features deemed novel will be specified in the several claims 6o hereunto annexed.

Referring to the drawings,Figure 1 is a top view of the caskettop with the lid closed. Fig. 2 is a longitudinal central section with sliding lid, asin Fig. 1. Fig. 3 is a top View of slid- 65 ing liddetached. Fig. 4 represents side and top views of spring-Wireway detached. Fig. 5 is a lateral section ot' Fig. 1 through lid when closed. Fig. G is a lateral section ot' Fig. `l through lid when open. i Fig. 7 is a central 7o longitudinal viewof a modification without lid. Fig. 8 is a longitudinal section -ot' sliding lid with spring attached. As here shown, the casket-top A is of the molded-edge variety, has a iixed panel, a, and a sliding close or face lid, b, which is in area and finish a counterpart of the tixed panel, although said lid is preferably provided with exterior means for manipulating it,-either in the form of a recessed thumb-piece, for instance, 8o or a knob, as shown. The face-lid b slides horizontally in a raceway, c, beneath the xed panel a, there being two offsaid raceways, one ou each side, and lugs or projections dare provided on each edge ot' the lid for occupying 85 said ways. At each side of the face-opening the raceways are vertically wider than they are beneath the ixedpanehso as topermit the lid to be moved upwardly, and thereby be in a position flush with ihe main upper surface 9o of the xed panel.V At the head end ot' each raceway the lower or bearing surf-'ace is inclined upwardly, a'i'ordin g inclined planes, as at e, so that when the frontlugs or projections, d, on the lid come into contact therewith the front end ot' the face-lid is lifted into and supported in the flush position `occupied by it when closed. The rearlugs or projections, d, ou

said face-lid, as shown in Iiigs. l to 6, inclusive, traverse or slide on the wirewayf, and when the lid is in its closed position, said rear lugs respectively rest upon said springwaywhich is bent to afford an inclined plane, as atf, to correspond with the inclined planes c at the head ends ofthe ways c,before described,where by the rear end of the face-lid is lifted while sliding forward into its closed position. Each springway j' is preferably composed of wire bent into a form clearly indicated in Fig. 4, and the front end of it firmly occupies a lateral hole in the casket-top in the raceway at the side of the opening in the top, so that the adjacent rear lug,d, slides above said wires, and the rear end of said wireway iirmlyoccupies a lateral hole in the casket-top below the raceway c, beneath the fixed panel, so that the front lug, d, slides below said wire when the lid is moved rearwardly. These wireways have a spring capacity in a vertical plane to enable them to be depressed when the rear lugs, d, advance with the lid into its closed position, and by resuming their normal condition said springways, when traversed by the rear lugs, lift the rear end of the face-lid into its proper position when closed,land cause said rear end to abut against the coincident edge ofthe opening, thus firmly locking the lid against longitudinal movement, but leaving said rea-r end free to be forced downwardly when the lid is to be moved backwardly. It will be seen that with this sliding face-lid there may be employed either the simple sliding glass lid or one also arranged to be lifted or lowered; or it may be hinged so asto be swung upwardly, and when desired the glass lid may be wholly dispensed with; but it is obvious that my construction and arrangement of the face-lid and its ways enable any form of glass lid to be readily applied beneath it for use therewith.

As the main fea-ture of my invention involves a sliding face-lid having front and rear side lugs and flexibly mounted on spring-wire ways and in raceways, so as to be movable longitudinally and vertically, as described, it is to be understood that I do not limit myself to the precise construction and arrangement of the raceways and wireways shown and thus far described, because l have obtained similarly desirable results by employing in connection with each raceway, as an equivalent of the wireways and rear lugs, a bent spring, g, secured to the under side of the face-lid, at its rear end, and projecting longitudinally therefrom, as illustrated in Figs. 7 and 8. In this case I also employ the inclined or lifting surfaces e at the front or head end ot' the raceways for lifting the front end of the face-lid and wedging it into its closed position.

It will be seen that when the face-lid is closed it occupies a position and horizontal plane precisely corresponding with the fixed panel a, and that it cannot be distinguished therefrom except by the presence of the knob, and, so far vas my knowledge extends, this desirable result in exterior finish in casket-tops has never before been obtained in connection with a sliding face-lid.

Having thus described my invention, l claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent- 1. The' combination, with the sliding lid provided with the front and rear lugs, of the raceways andthe spring-wireways traversed bythe rear lugs of the lid, substantially as described.

2. The combination, with the top of a burial casket or case, of a sliding face-lid, raceways, inclined planes for lifting the front end of said lid into and supporting itin its closed position, and springs for lifting the rear end ot' the lid into and locking it in its closed position, substantially as described.

JOSEPH II. WTALKER.

Witnesses:

W. F. CHANDLER, WILLIAM E. COX. 

